Monday, March 26, 2012

Another in the ongoing Upcycled Men's Shirt series. Here we have a single man's shirt, purchased for one dollar at a local thrift store, transformed into a chef's outfit for a three-year-old. Note that three-year-olds have large heads, out of proportion to their bodies.

The body of the apron is from the shirt back. The two strips from the front containing the buttons and the button holes have been sewn to either side of the apron. They make an interesting border and make the neck closure adjustable in length, simply by buttoning it closed with a different button. Two other strips from the front of the shirt have been used to create side apron ties.

Button strip from front of shirt sewn on side of apron

Bottom curve of original back section was trimmed off to form a straight horizontal line. The bottom was then flipped up and sewn down to create apron pockets.

Four apron pockets

Hat was created from the shirt sleeves, with the addition of two small panels of material from the shirt front to cover gaps created when bringing sleeves together. All buttons are removed from the button side of the cuffs. They are resewn to one of the buttonhole sides of the sleeve cuff, creating an adjustable fit for the hat.

Buttons placed so hat size is adjustable

The joy I derive from these upcycled men's shirt projects is the process of experimenting and noodling around, and sometimes when I'm done even I find it hard to retrace just how I put something together. This time I've drawn a rough sketch of the process for anyone who wants to try to duplicate this project.